This information provided via the courtesy of Vintage Slots of Colorado, Inc.

If you have an antique coin machine and want to sell it, please send me an email. If I am not interested in it, I will forward your email to a collector who probably is.


The following information is the web version of Coin Op on CD which was a book all about antique coin machines and it was distributed on a CD-ROM. This book was written in 1995 and sold in 1996. Please take this into consideration when reading the articles. There are no plans to come out with version 2. However, we do plan on periodically updating the information on the web version.
The CD version of the book has pricing information as well as a dealer directory. Since the prices are out of date and many of the dealers/collectors may no longer be collecting the machine we have purposely left this information out of the web version. However, we do keep in contact with many dealers and collectors who are actively buying and selling machines and would be happy to put you in touch with one if you have a machine you are looking to sell.

If you are looking to purchase an antique coin machine you may also send me an email and I will put you in touch with a reputable dealer. Odds are, I will not be selling the machine you are looking for (since I rarely sell any machines).


Be A Patron

Sponsor an Arcade Machine Book
Arcade Lives, Inc. has been formed to produce the book Arcade 2 to be compiled and written by Dick Bueschel, to be followed by Arcade 3, 4 and 5. While the subject of arcade machines has a strong and loyal following, their numbers aren't large enough to support the investment of a conventional publisher as there is little expectation of realizing the costs of production, much less make a profit. Therefore publishers won't touch these books due to their limited appeal.
But if arcade machine enthusiasts can band together and provide the funds to produce these books they can be accomplished. To that end, early in 1995 a corporation was formed in the State of New York called Arcade Lives, Inc. with the sole purpose of publishing these wanted volumes. To date there are five sponsors, and about half of the needed $25,000 to produce Arcade 2 has been collected.
This message is to answer any questions you may have about the project as related to your interest in promoting vintage arcade machines and the proposed arcade books project, either as a possible investor or just as an interested party.
The first book in this series, Arcade 1, was published in 1993, and while I have been working long and hard on the follow-up four volumes, I have been unable to interest a publisher in producing these well illustrated and interesting books and companion price guides. The idea to self publish by interested parties came as a result of a group of arcade machine collectors asking when Arcade 2 was coming out. I informed them that I no longer had a publisher for the book.
The next question was, "What needs to be done to get it published?" The idea we came up with was a coalition of interested parties all chipping in to produce the books as self publishers, and share in the financial success if there is any. But I must confess, that's probably a long shot. The real focus of the group is to get the books done for the hobby, and for ourselves.
The advice I got was to incorporate. And now it's a done deal. As of Monday, February 6, 1995, a New York corporation was established, and we got the name we wanted: Arcade Lives, Inc.
Now all we need is the money to produce the books.
The corporation will have no issued stock, with Dick Bueschel the senior corporate officer. Investors will contribute money to the corporation, for which they will receive a certificate acknowledging the contribution. The purpose of the corporation is to produce the book Arcade 2, and, in making enough money to continue, will rollover to produce Arcade 3, and if the momentum continues, to do Arcade 4 and 5. The corporate expenses will be legal, accounting, services, marketing, production and shipping. There will be no salaries. Funds will be kept in an interest bearing account to make the money work for us.
Author Dick Bueschel will be responsible for providing manuscript, photos and artwork from his collection at no charge for his time and artifacts, and will subsequently be paid a 20% royalty based on book sales, and designer/production manager Eric Hatchell will contribute his time and talents at no charge and will subsequently receive a 10% royalty for book design, production and sales management, plus $1 per order for handling and shipping. The remaining 70% of the funds will go back into the corporation.
Once all 4 arcade books are produced, if anything is left, we can disperse the funds in a ratio matching the contributions by investors at the Arcade 2 level getting full percentage, those coming in at the Arcade 3 level getting 50%, with those joining before Arcade 4 at 25%. Once our goal is met we may elect to keep going with additional books, or disband. We may even want to buy up the existing inventory of Arcade 1 from Hoflin Publishing, Ltd. (if the terms are advantageous) and/or re-do the book when it is out of print. This is something we would discuss. This language has all been legally worked out by our corporate attorney, Mr. George Pins, P. O. Box 194, Franklin, NY 13775, tel. 607-432-7092 (who raises horses, and Black Angus cattle for beef, is a pinball and arcade machine collector and is giving us the "collector rate" for his legal services.) If you have any legal questions you may contact George, who is also the secretary of the corporation.
There are five contributors to date, including Jonathan M. Goodson, Frederick K. Gilliam, Jr., Allan Pall, Steve Gronowski and Richard M. Bueschel. I have included myself as an investor, because what if this sucker makes money! I doubt it, but I wouldn't want to miss out. The return at this stage is purely psychic. Contributors will be acknowledged in the books as patrons of the art of arcade machines with photos and blurbs, with the more serious arcade collectors among them also on the pricing panel. We may as well put our own enthusiasts to work.
If you have any questions about the project, you can contact any of the investors to get their feelings. There is no master plan here, and I haven't made a list of possible investors. I really have just been asking people that I think might be interested in seeing that these books are published, and want to be part of getting it done. More than anything I don't want anyone to feel left out and at least give them the option of saying yes or no.
Contributions are to be in increments of $1,000, with $5,000 chunks desirable to move things along. We still need two to four more patrons at from $1,000 to $5,000 each (or fewer at more) to get this thing off the ground. Meantime, with the five already involved, that is enough to encourage me to put my time and collection against the writing of Arcade 2, assuming we will have the necessary nut to produce when we are ready. As I see it now, the money for Arcade 2 will be needed in the last quarter of 1966 to the first half of 1997 (or any time, to earn interest). You are invited to join this exclusive group of patrons. Let me know if you are interested, and if you are we will make you part of this thing and you can send the money now or later, whenever it is most advantageous for you. Checks are to be made out to Arcade Lives, Inc. and sent to Dick Bueschel at the address following.
If you have any additional questions, give me a call or send a FAX.
As ever, Arcade lives! On and on.
Sincerely,



Richard M. Bueschel
414 N. Prospect Manor Avenue
Mt. Prospect, IL 60056-2046
Tel. 1-847-253-0791
FAX: 1-847-253-7919